Early this morning in Simferopol, occupation security forces forcibly entered the homes of Rustem Kiamiliev and Lilia Hemedzhi, lawyers with the Crimean Solidarity civic movement, conducting illegal searches. Crimean Solidarity reported this. The searches were carried out by members of the so-called “Center for Combating Extremism” based on an alleged order from an occupation “court.”

Rustem Kiamiliev was unlawfully detained and taken to the so-called “Center for Combating Extremism” in Simferopol. Security forces confiscated the phones of his daughter and other family members. During the first hour of the detention, family members were not allowed to move freely within their house, and no answers were given regarding the reasons for the search. The detained man’s brother was threatened with illegal conscription.

Earlier, on March 20, 2023, upon request from the so-called “Crimean Bar Association,” the legal licenses of Hemedzhi and Kiamiliev were revoked. In May 2023, occupation security forces issued unlawful warnings to Rustem Kiamiliev and Lilia Hemedzhi regarding the “inadmissibility of violating the so-called ‘law on assemblies.'” Similar warnings were given to other activists of Crimean Solidarity.

The illegal searches and other actions by occupation security forces targeting activists and lawyers defending the rights of our citizens in occupied Crimea occur amid increasing pressure on independent civil initiatives and attempts to hinder their activities.

The Mission strongly condemns the illegal searches and detentions carried out by the occupation administration. Such systematic actions and “decisions” are aimed solely at reducing support for individuals persecuted by the occupiers for political reasons and at intimidating relatives, journalists, and activists who defend the rights and liberties of their loved ones or compatriots, as well as those who expose the arbitrary actions of the occupiers.

We express our support for human rights defenders who suffer from the occupiers’ abuses. Ukraine will do everything possible to de-occupy Crimea and to hold accountable those responsible for arbitrary detentions, politically motivated decisions, and other violations of the rights and liberties of our citizens.

Ukraine will raise the issue of these illegal actions by the occupation administration and the flagrant human rights violations at every possible forum, including through the Crimean Platform. We are grateful to our international partners who consistently condemn the Russian Federation’s actions of political persecution against our citizens and provide mentorship for illegally detained Ukrainian citizens.

We call on the entire international community to respond to these latest human rights violations in temporarily occupied Crimea and urge collective efforts to end Russia’s politically motivated persecution of Ukrainian citizens as swiftly as possible.